Paley shines in Telemark event

Local takes 2nd in World Cup sprint classic at Howelsen

From left, Lorin Paley, second place; Amele Reymond, first place; and Sandrine Meyer, third place, celebrate their finishes in Sunday's Telemark World Cup event at Howelsen Hill.

William Paley/Courtesy Photo

Lorin Paley stands on the podium during the flower ceremony for her second-place finish in the sprint classic race of the Telemark World Cup. Hill Fitzgerald, an up and coming junior Telemark skier is presenting the flowers.

Steamboat Springs  Lorin Paley said it’s just different skiing a World Cup event at home.

“When you ski one in Europe, people still say ‘Good luck,’ but it’s not your parents or your friends or everyone you know,” she said. “There’s a lot more pressure skiing here.”

She overcame that pressure Sunday, however, and earned her second Telemark World Cup podium finish of the season while stealing the spotlight on the first day of the World Cup’s stop in Steamboat Springs.

Paley was second in a Telemark sprint classic race at Howelsen Hill.

“You just need to really focus on your run, and I think I accomplished that today,” the Steamboat teenager said. “It was huge, just great to be able to stand up there in front of a Steamboat crowd and show that our Telemark program is producing great athletes.

“I wouldn’t be here if wasn’t for the program, and if I can do it, anyone can do it.”

On Sunday, Paley could do it just a little better than all but one member of a field that included some of the best Telemarkers in the world.

Amele Reymond, of Swit­zerland, won the event with a time of 2 minutes, 3.48 seconds. Paley was in at 2:05.60 and Sandrine Meyer, of Switzerland, rounded out the podium at 2:06.54.

Only Reymond had separation after the first run. The next six skiers were tightly bunched, and even though Paley already was in second at that point, she said she knew she needed her best race.

She tore down what was a difficult course on the downtown Steamboat ski hill. She hit the sprint classic course’s jump so hard that she tweaked a knee and flew across the skate-skiing section of the course.

It proved to be enough.

“It was such a tough course. If you made a mistake, you were definitely out of the top three,” she said. “But it was really fun. It’s one of the funnest courses I’ve raced at Howelsen. It was just a great setup.

“I just happened to have two of my best runs today.”

Paley said she was unsure whether her knee would allow her to return to action today when World Cup events resume. A busy week featuring two more races in Steamboat and another set in Keystone means she doesn’t want to exacerbate her injuries on the event’s second day.

On the men’s side, a trio of Frenchmen dominated the competition. Chris Lau was first at 1:50.05. Sven Lau was second at 1:50.96, and Philippe Lau was third at 1:51.30.

World Cup action resumes today at 10 a.m. with a giant slalom event on Sitz and See Me at Steamboat Ski Area.

Also for the United States, Steamboat Springs skier Erika Walters was ninth at 2:20.84.